HVAC Training

[relliott]

Originally Posted by bgromicko

promise is kept.
hvac training video

$199 for a video

Good luck with that.

[Ben J. Gromicko]

Originally Posted by relliott

$199 for a video

Good luck with that.

All training and education is an investment. Investments should have a profitable return.
I suggest that any training or education that a home inspector attains must be used to make more $- to realize profits that far exceed the initial investment.

I suggest that investing time and money into a HVAC Training course for inspectors has a higher Rate of Return than does an IR camera.

And the knowledge attained by training will far improve your services more than any piece of equipment.

It's the BRAIN and EYES (the pieces of equipment that all inspectors rely upon) that need continuous fine tuning and improvement, because (unlike an IR camera) the knowledge that the brain and eyes use is constantly being used, tested, and challenged.

One piece of training can be used to distinguish your services from all the rest. Just like one piece of equipment (like the use of a moisture meter) can give your company a distinguishing competitive advantage.

• Tell everyone that your HVAC Trained and qualified to inspect HVAC systems.

• Market your training qualifications on your website.

• Tell every potential client on the phone. Email blast all your agents.

• Make the latest training course that you took an update news blast.

• Insert it in every piece of marketing material.

• Training, qualifications, education, and experience is not just for a resume. Don't keep it to yourself. Tell people.

• Inform clients that you arr HVAC-Trained while inspecting your clients system.

• Tell the HVAC technician (who may be following-up on your work) that you're a trained inspector.

"Being HVAC Trained" should be used to marketing yourself as a "Qualified" inspector. Qualified to inspect HVAC systems. A qualification that can set an inspector apart from his/her friendly competitors.

$9.47 per ce hour is a great price.
$199 stretched out over a career, with 250 inspections performed annually - that's pennies per inspection.
There's no other HVAC training online video that matches it.

[Ben J. Gromicko]

Originally Posted by relliott

$199 for a video

Good luck with that.

That's funny. You're a graduate of the Bellman Group (trainers of inspectors) and consider them to be "the best in the business" of training inspectors. They charge $50 for 3 hours of training on the subject of Air Conditioning. ($17 per hour.)
It's probably a very good course.

[David A. Andersen]

Is that a 21 hour video?

[Ben J. Gromicko]

Originally Posted by dandersen

Is that a 21 hour video?

The InterNACHI HVAC Training for Inspectors Online Video is about 17 hours of edited video, which is equivalent to about 40 hours in a classroom setting. Remember edited video is concise, we take out pauses and "Ummms" and stretch breaks and stuff.
We actually could have made it longer with more information that we thought was equally relevant and critical, but we had to stop somewhere.
It's the best thing NACHI.TV has done so far.
We're now onto another critical subject that all inspectors must be aware of. Stucco and EIFS.

[David A. Andersen]

OK. 17 hours sounds comprehensive.

Do you have a customer support system for when viewers dive in over their untrained heads?

I hope your not depending on the unpaid advise of the HVAC guys on this BB!

Kind of like the IR program that does training in one specific area and the board gets flooded with "outside the scope" questions. The easiest of all, circuit breaker overload was misdiagnosed by about 40% of the posters!

Gee, I'm certified and trained. Now I'm superman!
"I'm going to go tell those HVAC contractors where it's at..."

I would applaud you if this was not a vendor based project.

There is not one piece of equipment, like the IR camera (that you were so quick to slam on profit margins), that can tell you what is going on in an HVAC system! I don't know how your going to cover this with "screwdriver & flashlight" inspectors in 17 hours.

Rule #1 in HVAC: That which seems to be, is not..."

In the 18 sec. viewing your program, I find a picture labeled "requires a defrost". That equipment "requires" a service call...

Granted, the least known HVAC monster out there is the heat pump, but lets get real.!

I made an average of $40k a year just driving around on a frosty morning "reading" the outdoor coils of heat pumps. I know what that unit is telling me. It's not asking for a defrost.

Anyway, good luck with your project.
Don't forget the disclaimers that go with HVAC inspections, like the one that says the inspector is not certified to check the most important part of an AC/Heat Pump, the refrigerant circuit.

Don't take me wrong, I'm just jealous that I didn't get my training for $199.

[Ben J. Gromicko]

Thank you for your support, David.

There's no guarantee that an inspector who takes a training class isn't going to make mistakes. We all make mistakes. I'm sure you'll confess.

I purchased a FLIR BCAM SD in the Summer of 2006. $6,500. It was amazing. (I still use it.) I used the investment to increase my home inspection fees. And made a huge grab of the market share because of the IR camera (which also required a huge investment in marketing the additional service of my IR camera.)

The point is:
In this economy, money is tight. If I want to stay in business by distinguishing my company from my competitors without spending a ton of cash (like $3K - $5K for an IR camera), I would consider investing in some training on an area that may be a weakness (like HVAC many inspectors have confessed), and then MARKET that qualification/training to potential clients.

Investment on training is cheap, and can have a greater (if not as great) of an impact in increasing business and making $ than buying a piece of high-tech equipment.

[Ben J. Gromicko]

David,

You may have missed - One of the cool things we did in the video is to actually rip open a gas-fired furnace. It was said to have a cracked heat exchanger. Well, after tearing it apart into pieces, we found the small crack.

One main part of the video demonstration was to show how IMPOSSIBLE it is for an inspector to comment upon the condition of the heat exchanger. The defect was in a place that was not possible for a home inspector to see. (visual-only inspections, right?)

And that's the main point of this HVAC training video. There are many HVAC technicians/experts are fed up with home inspectors and their evaluations of HVAC systems.

Home inspectors are expected to know a lot about everything, but they are NOT required to be experts in anything. You can't become an HVAC expert by watching a video, even if it's really good and 17 hours long and less than $9.50 per hour.

[cbottger]

Originally Posted by bgromicko

David,

You may have missed - One of the cool things we did in the video is to actually rip open a gas-fired furnace. It was said to have a cracked heat exchanger. Well, after tearing it apart into pieces, we found the small crack.

One main part of the video demonstration was to show how IMPOSSIBLE it is for an inspector to comment upon the condition of the heat exchanger. The defect was in a place that was not possible for a home inspector to see. (visual-only inspections, right?)

And that's the main point of this HVAC training video. There are many HVAC technicians/experts are fed up with home inspectors and their evaluations of HVAC systems.

Home inspectors are expected to know a lot about everything, but they are NOT required to be experts in anything. You can't become an HVAC expert by watching a video, even if it's really good and 17 hours long and less than $9.50 per hour.

Ok Ben I am done slamming you I have had my bit of fun with the BR549 thingy. I will have to commend you for at least trying to help the unknowning with your video even though I think it is overpriced.

I must comment on your dual statements you are encourging everyone to watch your video and become trained in HVAC and tell the world through advertising that they are HVAC trained and then your last statement is the one that makes the most sense to me You can not become an HVAC expert by watching a video.

Okla has the most extensive school for HVAC there is in the nation with OKLA State University at Muskogee and it is two years in duration and I have had a ton of the Grads of that school work with me over the years and all they were good for was to carry my tools until they had been in the field for at least 5 years working on this equipment day in and day out so please do not tell HI's they are HVAC trained by simply watching your video it will just get them sued.

I have always tried to answer questions on this BB because I saw a great need for training in HVAC with some just plain stupid questions being posted or they seem that way to me and then I tried to caution myself Hey Charley these guys have not spent their whole life working in this field so be a little patience and I do try most of the time anyway.

Ok guys I am off of the soap box I encourge everyone to take this course and to you Ben lower your Dam price so they can, How about a Xmas special for all HO HO HO

[Ben J. Gromicko]

Originally Posted by cbottger

Ok Ben I am done slamming you I have had my bit of fun with the BR549 thingy. I will have to commend you for at least trying to help the unknowning with your video even though I think it is overpriced.

I must comment on your dual statements you are encourging everyone to watch your video and become trained in HVAC and tell the world through advertising that they are HVAC trained and then your last statement is the one that makes the most sense to me You can not become an HVAC expert by watching a video.

Okla has the most extensive school for HVAC there is in the nation with OKLA State University at Muskogee and it is two years in duration and I have had a ton of the Grads of that school work with me over the years and all they were good for was to carry my tools until they had been in the field for at least 5 years working on this equipment day in and day out so please do not tell HI's they are HVAC trained by simply watching your video it will just get them sued.

I have always tried to answer questions on this BB because I saw a great need for training in HVAC with some just plain stupid questions being posted or they seem that way to me and then I tried to caution myself Hey Charley these guys have not spent their whole life working in this field so be a little patience and I do try most of the time anyway.

Ok guys I am off of the soap box I encourge everyone to take this course and to you Ben lower your Dam price so they can, How about a Xmas special for all HO HO HO

Charley, You are absolutely right. (I grew up watching Hee Haw, Green Acres, and The Hill Billies.)

This course (like all the pay-per-view and free courses at NACHI.TV and nachi.org/education are designed for home inspectors to be better home inspectors.
All the training available through NACHI.TV and InterNACHI are geared for a home inspector to become a better home inspector, and not an expert in a particular field.

I do not doubt that your 2-year training course on HVAC was fantastic. But I doubt that any home inspector will devote that much time or $.

PS. The instructor charged $8K for the course, and there's two months of work invested in this NACHI.TV project. The course price is fair.
21 CE at $9.47 per hour.

[cbottger]

Originally Posted by bgromicko

Charley, You are absolutely right. (I grew up watching Hee Haw, Green Acres, and The Hill Billies.)

This course (like all the pay-per-view and free courses at NACHI.TV and nachi.org/education are designed for home inspectors to be better home inspectors.
All the training available through NACHI.TV and InterNACHI are geared for a home inspector to become a better home inspector, and not an expert in a particular field.

I do not doubt that your 2-year training course on HVAC was fantastic. But I doubt that any home inspector will devote that much time or $.

PS. The instructor charged $8K for the course, and there's two months of work invested in this NACHI.TV project. The course price is fair.
21 CE at $9.47 per hour.

I did not state that I attended O State just that is what is considered necessary training for most. I attended USN school, Sooner Mech School and of course the school of hard knocks. I guess If you are not going to lower your price I will just have to send my brothers Vinnie and Queido out to Bolder and have a talk with you

[Jeff S. Vogan]

OUCH. 200 bucks? 21 hours? Geez. I guess membership doesn't ALWAYS have it's privledges!

[Ben J. Gromicko]

Originally Posted by jvogan

OUCH. 200 bucks? 21 hours? Geez. I guess membership doesn't ALWAYS have it's privledges!

Nope!
Non-members pay through the teeth. They are less-trained, less-qualified, less-hired.

[Jeff S. Vogan]

LOL...Ben, you crack me up! "I will train any home inspector for $19.99!" 200 bucks is "paying through the nose" for me right now...think I will keep my 200 bucks to pay for a few christmas presents for the kids!!! And I know, it's cheap....a million bucks would be a bargain for the Empire State Building, but I still couldn't afford it.

[Ben J. Gromicko]

Originally Posted by jvogan

LOL...Ben, you crack me up! "I will train any home inspector for $19.99!" 200 bucks is "paying through the nose" for me right now...think I will keep my 200 bucks to pay for a few christmas presents for the kids!!! And I know, it's cheap....a million bucks would be a bargain for the Empire State Building, but I still couldn't afford it.

I'm just passionate about this online education stuff that I do. That's all. I want everyone to enjoy my videos. Everyone. That's why most of them are free.

I try to pay the instructors and the bills with the pay-per-view stuff. I teach at inspection seminars for free, and also at chapter meetings. If you have a chapter that would like me to appear, I seriously consider flying out.

Some friendly advice. You shouldn't train any inspector for $19.99. For one-to-one training and consultation, I used to charge $100 per day to simply ride around with me and hang out behind me during inspections.